'Cradles to Crayons' winter collection drive begins

'Cradles to Crayons' winter collection drive is beginning

A major collection drive is underway to outfit thousands of local kids for winter weather.

CHICAGO - A major collection drive is underway in the city and suburbs to outfit thousands of Chicago area children for winter weather.

Volunteers in Logan Square and other spots began the large task Monday of collecting and sorting piles of winter gear for Cradles to Crayons.

"We need coats, we need boots, we need warm sweaters and warm clothing. We are pretty low on those items and we know it's getting cold outside and the families we serve are desperately going to need them," said Shoshana Buchholz-Miller, Executive Director of Cradles to Crayons Chicago.

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Cradles to Crayons aims to outfit more than 54 thousand children for winter with its "Gear Up for Winter" campaign. That's on top of the 120 thousand kids the non-profit has already served this school year.

"The demand we have has skyrocketed since pre-pandemic times. Our demand for diapers, for example, was up 300 percent last year and we served almost double the kids we had the previous year, pre-pandemic and we haven't really seen that kind of need go away," said Buchholz-Miller.

So Buchholz-Miller is asking families to clean out their closets then donate all those jackets, boots and sweaters your kids grew out of but are still in good shape.

"We know that if kids don't have proper outerwear like coats and boots they don't go to school, so they're missing out on that learning time, engagement with their peers, that social time and they don't get to play outside and that's really important too for their mental health," explained Buchholz-Miller.

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There are 22 drop off locations in the city and suburbs to donate new or gently used winter gear this week.